Some simple reality. Even before the rumors of Tom Bradley have started heating up, the next coach at Pitt will not be Rich Rodriguez or Mike Leach. Period. If you are/were holding out hope (Leach) or stressing at the possibility (Rodriguez), you shouldn’t.

Dennis Dodd’s laughable argument in favor of DickRod is the same thing that everyone who backs Leach says. He wins. He plays exciting offense. They’ll bring sizzle and reinvigorate the fanbase. Uh-huh. That’s fine if being the head coach at a program was just coaching (and recruiting). If this was the NFL.

It’s more than that. It is about selling the program. Being the face of the program. It is about dealing with boosters, trustees, and the people above you. It’s about being willing to work with others. And most of all, it is about trust.

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Let’s start this off by first suggesting you go over to Cardiac Hill and read Anson’s observation on Pederson having to go to the assistant coaches and apologize for essentially ignoring and blowing them off for nearly a month. I read the same piece and it just never clicked to me that Pederson was that stupid.

Right now, the fans are crying for Pederson’s head as well over this debacle. Predictably, you have media people defending him. It is a bit of bull since the defense consists  primarily based on the work he did the first time as AD at Pitt. That’s nice, but that is like defending Johnny Majors in the 90s for the work he did at Pitt in the 70s.

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The Pitt News sports blog had a fine liveblog of Dave Wannstedt’s press conference to announce “The Decision.” Er, no, that’s been done.

Here are some of the highlights:

“I am a Pitt guy. I am a Pittsburgh guy. I always have been and I always will be,” he said, his voice rising. “There have been a lot of coaches before me and there will be a lot of coaches here after me, but I can assure you . . .none of them will love Pitt as much as I have.”

I believe that, but it sure looks like his own personal pride came before Pitt in the past couple weeks.

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Contrary to earlier reports that had Mike Haywood staying in a St. Joseph County, Indiana jail until Monday, Haywood was allowed to post bond and be released today. That’s about the only good news for Haywood at this point.

Mr. Haywood originally was not going to be released until after his arraignment Monday at 1:30 p.m., a jail official said this morning. However, that changed when the St. Joseph County Prosecutor increased the charge from a misdemeanor to a felony, according to the jail, allowing Mr. Haywood to be released earlier.

Under Indiana state law, domestic battery is a Class A misdemeanor, which carries a penalty of up to one year in jail and a maximum $5,000 fine. If the alleged battery occurred in the physical presence of a child who is younger than 16, it can be charged as a Class D felony.

According to the jail, the St. Joseph County Prosecutor increased the charge to a felony because the alleged battery took place in the presence of Mr. Haywood’s 21-month-old son. A Class D felony conviction could mean a jail term between six months and three years, with an advisory sentence of one and one-half years, and a maximum $10,000 fine.

When the alleged battery was classified as a misdemeanor, according to a jail official, Mr. Haywood’s bond could not be posted until a no-contact order was filed and he was arraigned. When the prosecutor’s office increased the charge to a felony, it issued an arrest warrant, which according to the jail established a bond and court date and allowed Mr. Haywood ‘s bond to be posted.

Now to be fair, and lord knows we saw a bit of that this past year with Pitt players — what you are charged with does not mean much other than giving the prosecution more leverage in plea negotiations.

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I’m rather cynical about most things. Especially when it comes to sports. Yet, I have to admit to being taken aback by the way Coach Wannstedt is acting.

Then Pitt’s administration tried to do the right thing by giving him a few days to decide if he wanted to coach the bowl game. As of today, he still has not given Steve Pederson his final decision. And the times I have talked to him over the past two weeks – the last time being Thursday – he said he was “going to work with the team, get them prepared, run practices and then wait to see where he is at and how he feels next week” before he makes his decision. Now, that is what he has said and that is what he is saying on the record.

Unfortunately, he has also told a number of people around him he is not likely to coach in the game and that he doesn’t want to go through a week of news conferences and luncheons and all of that “play happy” stuff. If it was just about the game, he would coach but all the other stuff he’s not sure he wants to go through.

I do know this – if he doesn’t coach, it will be defensive coordinator Phil Bennett who will be in charge and run things through the bowl. And while Hafley is gone and at least one more is likely to be gone shortly, for the most part the current assistants will coach through the bowl game.

I get that he is probably a bit bitter about the whole thing. I am sure he still feels blindsinded and never saw the firing coming. It’s seems obvious that he feels betrayed by AD Pederson, and this kind of putting off the decision is as much to get back at Pederson as anything else.

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Yesterday Pitt and Comcast announced a Pitt Panther TV channel.

Pitt and The Comcast Network are proud to announce the launch of Pitt Panthers Television, a breakthrough programming service that will annually present more than 500 additional hours of Pitt athletics coverage to area fans exclusively on The Comcast Network, including live broadcasts of men’s basketball games this season and football coach Dave Wannstedt’s weekly press conferences as well as re-airs of all home football games.

Pitt Panthers Television, which debuts Sept. 21, will also broadcast live football and men’s basketball pre- and postgame shows, women’s basketball games and women’s volleyball games as well as other Olympic sports and original programming. It will also bring rebroadcasts of football and basketball games to Comcast’s Xfinity On Demand platform, allowing Comcast digital customers to enjoy all the Panthers’ great moments whenever they want.

As you would expect it is limited to Western Pennsylvania and some parts of Central PA. It is on channels 188 or 210. As long as you live in the region and are a Comcast subscriber this is a great thing.

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I’ve had this tab open for well over a week, yet it still isn’t resolved. The long expected move for Pitt football and basketball to 93.7 The Fan as the team’s flagship station has yet to occur.

The long negotiating process involving the broadcasting rights to Pitt football and basketball has hit a snag.

The deal was almost done between Pitt and The Fan 93.7 (KDKA-FM) and was in the hands of the lawyers for a final look. But it appears the issue of  woman‘s basketball is holding up a finalization.

When Pitt was carried by Clear Channel, as it has in recent years, football and men’s basketball were heart first on 104.7 (WPGB) and more recently on 94.5 (WWSW), both on the FM dial. Women’s basketball was heard on Fox Sports Radio 970, an AM station that Clear Channel uses for auxiliary sports program such as the Altoona Curve, coaches shows and various insider programming.

Is there a lot of interest or listening for Pitt women’s basketball? No. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t important for Pitt to have a home for it.

It needs a place for broadcasts. The women’s basketball team has been growing and becoming better than simply respectable. Pitt has to show recruits its commitment, and have a home for the broadcasts so they can be streamed.

The problem is that KDKA-FM has no other minor station to put the broadcasts. As such it puts both sides in a bad spot.

93.7 has not taken off quite as expected. They need Pitt football this fall to get bring in new listeners and then try to retain them. Same with basketball later.

For Pitt, they need a place for their sports. While it appears Clear Channel is still willing to have them, it has gotten more crowded as Clear Channel has already made a move to carry WVU games as well.

Both sides want the move to The Fan. Pitt wants more attention that being the primary live programming on the station would bring locally. The Fan wants to have signature live programming to fill time slots.

The longer this draws out, the worse it is for promoting Pitt football for the upcoming season. 93.7 won’t devote as much resources and energy to training camp and the upcoming season if it doesn’t know that it will be the flagship.

Ultimately, it seems that it has to be resolved. I wonder if they could at least reach a short-term agreement to have women’s basketball games streamed over 93.7’s website.

Hope everyone had a good long weekend. Family visited and most of the time was spent doing various yard projects for the wife. Now if we can just find someone who wants to take away the pool in the backyard…

The Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) released its list of the top-75 best-selling universities during basketball season and the end of bowl season (Jan 1 – Mar 31 2010). Pitt came in at 46. That puts them behind WVU (14), Louisville (30), Syracuse (39) and Cinci (44) in the Big East.

Chris Dokish has his latest Q&A. He is enthusiastic about the hiring of Pat Skerry.

… Letaio was the coach I mentioned, but as my boss at NBE can attest to, Skerry was who I thought Pitt should hire. He has all it takes to be an absolute dynamo at Pitt and he will be an excellent head coach in the near future. It was another major statement by Pitt that they are in the big time. Not just anybody can hire a superstar assistant from a rival school. Bottom line, Skerry will make a big splash at Pitt.

He’s also very high on 2011 Pitt commit John Johnson. There’s also some caution as to whether J.J. Moore is actually qualified at this point.

As always, go read all of it and pick apart your favorite nugget of interest.

One day at my daughter’s karate class, I noticed another parent wearing a Pitt golf visor. Pleasantly surprised I asked him about it, only to find out that he was simply the golf coach at Euclid High (nicknamed the Panthers) and that some of his players bought him the visor because of the panther head logo on it.

I’ve never been wild of the Pitt Panther logo that AD Pederson had made and brought right back upon his return. So, I guess I’m a little stunned that any high school nicknamed the Panthers copied it.

The panther head logo emblazoned on the field at Whitmer High School’s football stadium is said to be Ohio’s largest high school field logo.

The only problem is the growling panther image — stretching 20 yards across the center of the $600,000 field — belongs to the University of Pittsburgh, according to Pitt officials.

The university contacted Washington Local Schools in Toledo earlier this month and ordered the high school to stop using it.

Superintendent Patrick Hickey said a Whitmer student has since created a new panther logo and the district plans to trademark it. But to remove the existing logo from the three-year-old football field, its basketball hard court, and from the back stadium wall would mean “enormous dollars.”

That’s because the brilliant yellow panther head isn’t just dyed or painted onto the football field. It’s “sewn” into the state-of-the-art turf, Mr. Hickey said. And, he added, painting over the logo or otherwise covering it might void the warranty.

Yeah, Whitmer High did not  exactly engage in a subtle difference.

Whitmer High Panthers

As the article points out, there has been a long history of high schools virtually mimicking college and even pro logos for their own mascots. (How many schools nicknamed the “Cardinals” are virtually indistinguishable from the Louisville or Arizona logo?)

The aforementioned Euclid Panthers used to have a very similar color scheme to Pitt’s old colors with Royal Blue and Yellow.

Like so many others, they now use a darker blue and gold. And their present logo might evoke some other Panther.

Carolina Euclid Panthers

Subtle, huh?

Hopefully, Pitt won’t be too aggressive on this high school. As the story noted, lots of schools and professional teams have gotten more dickish in enforcing their copyright and trademark powers. Money is always the issue, but is it really worth it with most high schools?

Or at least it is rumored/expected to be.

High-ranking Big Ten representatives will meet Sunday in Washington to discuss expansion. The timing and location of the session make sense considering the Association of American Universities has its semi-annual meetings there through Tuesday and all 11 Big Ten schools are AAU members.

Among those attending will be Northwestern President Morton Schapiro, according to a university spokesman, and Illinois’ interim chancellor, Robert Easter.

If the conference can emerge from the meetings with a mandate to expand, Commissioner Jim Delany could take a substantial step next week at the annual Bowl Championship Series meetings outside Phoenix.

As laid out in the Big Ten’s Dec. 15 statement, Delany would “notify” the commissioners of the affected conferences before “engaging in formal expansion discussions with other institutions.”

In other words, Big East Commissioner John Marinatto would get a heads-up if the Big Ten wishes to contact schools such as Rutgers, Pittsburgh and Syracuse.

That would allow the Big Ten more than a month to negotiate with schools before conference presidents and chancellors meet in Chicago during the first weekend in June.

That timetable also makes sense from a financial standpoint. The fiscal years of universities end on the last day of June, “so if you go past July 1, you have to wait an extra year,” one source said.

So while the Big 10 Presidents and Chancellor’s meet for the AAU meeting (along with Pitt, Rutgers, Mizzou, Nebraska and Syracuse), Big 10 commish Delany goes to Arizona for BCS meetings with conference commissioners and presumably athletic directors from the BCS schools.

At that point, Delany could let Beebe (Big 12) and/or Marinatto (Big East) know that they will be poached. Because let’s be honest, whoever they ask from the conference will go (except maybe Texas).

To admit a new member to the Big 10, it takes at least 70% to say yes, or 8 of the 11 schools have to back the proposed school.

The presumption is that the Big 10 will have to take one more run at Notre Dame before moving down the list. I have no idea how this plays out.

I’ve read so many different scenarios based on expanding with or without ND. Expanding by 1, 3 or 5 teams. Pitt — depending on the person doing the ranking and their biases and values on various aspects — places anywhere from the most attractive candidate after ND and Texas (and Texas A&M) to the least. There are kernels of logic and reason in them, but I don’t think anyone truly knows how the Big 10 is going to make this decision.

I’m also not as worried. If they only go one and it isn’t Pitt, the Big East survives. Even if it would be Rutgers or Syracuse. The loss isn’t that drastic.

If the Big 10 goes to 14, and Pitt wasn’t one of the three, I’m nervous but I also think that the Big East could make it or the ACC would look to expand and Pitt would be a top choice. Is the ACC as lucrative as the Big 10? No. But it would be more stable and more lucrative than the Big East.

Even if the Big 10 went all the way to 16 and still Pitt was left out, then definitely the ACC would be expanding and Pitt would be in there.

Really, I think that Pitt will be okay. It is the fate of the Big East as a football conference that is at stake.

Watched the streamed press conference. Nothing particularly startling in the presser. Took some notes, and these were some of the things I felt were worth jotting.

— The presser started with both Coach Jamie Dixon and AD Steve Pederson sitting down, followed by a minor crush of reporters rushing to the table to put and activate their digital recorders.

— Pederson speaks first, thanking everyone for showing up to the pres conference on short notice, noting that this in part is because of  “today’s speedy news cycle.” (A slight acknowledgment of the rumors and mini-crisis of yesterday?)

— Usual stuff. Lauding Coach Dixon and the job he has done. Lauding the character. Lauding. Lots of lauding.

— Saying that Pitt approached Dixon during the season about another extension and that Dixon never approached them (no mention as to whether Dixon’s agent did).

— I think AD Pederson was tired of press conferences with back-to-backs. He only spoke for some 5 minutes or so.

— Coach Dixon then had some brief comments. Lots of “thank yous” and statements of loyalty and never wanting to leave.  That he, his wife and children love it hear. Acknowledging that he is very lucky. “I’m not going anywhere. I don’t want to go anywhere.”  Basically saying all the things that he wouldn’t say yesterday.

— Then he ended with a confused look, and said, ” I don’t know why we are here today.”

— Pederson responded saying that it was just a coincidence about things. He and Coach Dixon kind of went back and forth about how there was no great time to do this. Coach Dixon leaves for the Final Four tomorrow. Then hits the recruiting trail. Suggesting that it was now or Easter Sunday. Right.

–Questions from the media followed for about the next 15 minutes. What I hate, is that the questions never are heard. Only the responses. They really need to send an intern with a microphone around to whoever is called to ask a question. I understand Nate Byham is available.

— There were questions about yesterday’s radio days. Dixon really didn’t clarify too much. I think one of the reporters read part of his quote back to ask for clarification. Coach Dixon responded, “I think that was what I was referring to.” Thanks for clearing that up.

— Dixon did go on a bit more with whatever was asked saying that two very good friends were fired yesterday. Presumably he meant Al Skinner and Pat Kearney being fired from Boston College and Holy Cross yesterday. Not sure who else lost their job yesterday.

— Again, Dixon refused to comment Oregon or any of the jobs. Mentioning again how he just doesn’t do that.

— Dixon quote about his situation at Pitt, the administration and how lucky he is, “The most important thing in coaching is who you work for.”

— Someone asked Pederson about the rumors of the Oregon job and Dixon, “I was never nervous about rumors over the last 48 hours.”

According to new addition to the Pitt blogosphere, Every Loyal Son, the new contract is in the range of $2.5 million. Unknown at this point.

That’s a credit to Pitt’s Associate AD for Media Relations, E.J. Borghetti and his staff making them happy.

The Football Writers Association of America polled themselves to find out which sports information departments really stood out.

The Football Writers Association of America has announced its first “Super 11” field of sports information departments, which were deemed the best in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision during the 2009 season.

In alphabetical order those 11 schools are: Buffalo, Clemson, East Carolina, Georgia, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, San Jose State, Southern California (USC), Texas and Utah.

“There are clearly many outstanding sports information departments across the country,” said Tim Griffin, 2010 FWAA President and chairman of the Super 11 Committee. “But our group felt there was a smattering of schools that merited commendation because of their exemplary work above and beyond the call of duty. This is our first collection in what will be an ongoing process.”

I can attest that E.J. Borghetti does a fantastic job at dealing with people. He knows how to engage them and makes them feel like he is on their side/helping them. All the while he is putting Pitt, the team, the players and the coaches in the best light possible.

How do you expect us to function in the world with this kind of message?

EJ Tweets the Big 11 Rumor

But I thought if it was on the internets it must be true?

Hold it, adjusting my paranoia and making it fit to the world view that the rumors are the truth. Ah, there it is.

“It’s not a denial…”

“Just a smokescreen from a Pitt assistant AD/sports information director…”

“He is being kept in the dark to allow deniability…”

Pittsburgh Mayor Ravenstahl has apparently joined in the whole national recognition for Pitt thing, by declaring Friday “Turn it blue day.”

The Panthers, ranked as high as No. 8 in the country, will face the Fighting Irish in front of a soldout crowd and national ABC television audience. Pittsburghers are encouraged to wear their Pitt Blue on Friday to get ready for the game.

Fans should also wear their Pitt Blue to Heinz Field Saturday night as Pitt and Pittsburgh are showcased to the rest of the country.

“This weekend, let’s `Turn it Blue’ and show our support for our own hometown team as they take on the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame,” Ravenstahl said. “We’ll have the eyes of the nation watching us, and I’m confident that with the talent we have this season and with the support of Pitt fans, our team will be successful. Go Pitt!”

What a sweet gesture. I’m sure that this more than makes up for the dickish attempt by the Mayor — after winning reelection — to impose a 1% tuition tax on college students in Pittsburgh to cover the budget shortfall. I’m sure the students will just embrace him now.

I’m guessing Ravenstahl won’t be making a public appearance at the game.

Granted, Pitt won’t be on national TV as much this year so we may not be bombarded with them. Still, Pitt’s athletic department has put together a “personality profile” for each player.

Rather than click on over right away, test your knowledge of this year’s Panthers.

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